"We must be ready to dare all for our country. For history does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid. We must acquire proficiency in defense and display stamina in purpose." - President Eisenhower, First Inaugural Address

Pearl

Monday, October 22, 2007

The UN World Food Programme on Monday renewed pleas for deployment of foreign naval vessels to protect food aid in Somali waters, a day after its chartered freighter escaped a piracy attack.

On Sunday, WFP-chartered, Comoran-flagged MV Jaikur II came under attack 60 nautical miles off the Somali port of Brava, south of Mogadishu, where it had had just unloaded 7,275 metric tons of WFP food and was sailing back to Mombasa.

The pirates fired, but the ship managed to escape.

"WFP remains extremely concerned about piracy off Somalia, particularly as it appears that as the monsoon season has ended, the pirate season has begun," WFP spokesman Peter Smerdon said in a statement.

"WFP reiterates its calls for foreign powers to send naval vessels to waters off Somalia to hunt down the pirates and protect the transport of humanitarian assistance."

"This was the third attack this year on a ship contracted to carry WFP food to Somalia," Smerdon explained.

Smerdon said arrangements were being made for a French naval vessel to escort ships carrying WFP food to Mogadishu from next month.

Last month, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that his country was prepared to send a warship off Somalia to protect delivery of food aid to beleaguered Somalis from attacks by pirates.

As Galrahn notes in a comment below and here, NATO has a force (including USS Laboon (DDG-58)) that appears to be heading into the area.

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EagleSpeak

About EagleSpeak

The main focus of this blog is maritime security. Other matters may appear. I am a retired attorney and a retired Navy Reserve Captain (Surface Warfare). Opinions expressed herein are my own. Sometimes I have the experience to back them up. Your opinions may vary. Don't panic. Feel free to disagree, that's what free speech is all about.
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Under the header: Pearl Harbor Attack, 7 December 1941 Photograph taken from a Japanese plane during the torpedo attack on ships moored on both sides of Ford Island. Naval History & Heritage Command archive.